Cap molding

The cap molding covers the top edge of the case, overhanging about 1 mm on each side.

Here's the profile used for the cap molding:


It's based on the same profile used for the bridge and soundboard moldings, except it has two decorative edges instead of one.

Originally I had planned to apply a set of moldings to the inside upper edge of the case, but I discovered, before getting to that point, that Italian harpsichords don't necessarily have an inner molding unless they're made in the false inner-outer style (i.e. a set of veneers are glued to the interior of a painted wooden box to make it look like a separate wood-coloured instrument resides within the box). It's a good thing I didn't go ahead with this, not only because of the workload, but because the resulting cap molding would have been extremely wide. As it is, the molding has to cover and overhang two thicknesses of case material, which requires a width of 3/8" plus 2 mm.

Before gluing the cap molding down, I cleaned up the case edges with a special edge-trimming plane. Since the case edge is so narrow, I thought a normal hand plane would be hard to keep flat. The built-in fence on the edge-trimming plane helps the plane cut a square edge.

I steam-bent the bentside cap molding to get it approximately to the right curvature, then glued it down:


Tiny 1/2" brads were nailed through the molding and partly into the case edge to help resist the shear forces of the molding trying to straighten out. I think I will clip off the heads of these and drive the remainder of the shaft below the surface of the molding, just to provide some extra holding power.

The brads also help to act as positioning pins so that the overhang of the molding is equal on both sides. There's no easy way to keep the molding in the correct position without using positioning aids of some sort.

All the other cap moldings were done the same way, except that the brads were pulled out once the glue dried. Glue alone should be enough to secure moldings that aren't bent to shape.

Next, I'll swell the nail holes with water to close them up as much as possible, sand the molding, and plug any remaining holes with yellow wax.